Attendance: 10,062 (inc.1,035 away fans)
THE66POW: Point & hope photos: click HEREHaving promised myself, that this: long-winded, self-indulgent, bullshit blog, with added football content, shall be a microcosm of my real life, whereby I won't and don't allow myself to become embroiled in other peoples: politics, tub-thumping, petty squabbling, infighting, propaganda and prejudices... I'm well aware that I'm on a very slippery slope here. But also realise, that sometimes, you simply can't turn your back on, or ignore situations that are reaching a tipping point, right in front of your own eyes... not indefinitely.
It is a fact of life, that you can know too much sometimes. And even though you don't
really need (or even want), to become too deeply entrenched in these sort of things, and are effectively sick to the back teeth of frequently hearing about all of the shambolic behind the scenes rigmarole at Birmingham City FC, to a point where it becomes very tempting to just say that: football
is only a game and you can easily walk away from such situations any time that you like. You know, deep down, that in reality: i) it isn't, and ii) you can't... because you don't have that kind of a feckless mindset... you're a football supporter. And there isn't a known cure for your condition.
And for everybody who disagrees with me at this juncture, I know that there will be plenty more, who'll know
exactly where I'm coming from to this end.
Anyway, an advanced warning as regards this blog post. Buckle up, this is going to be a lengthy journey and a bumpy ride. Because, as the saying goes (or at least it should), a week is a long time in politics... but, it's an absolute age in football circles.
Late on Sunday night, Blues confirmed, via a statement posted on their official website at 11.10PM, that they are being charged again, by the EFL, for breaking that particular governing bodies rules, by not adhering a business plan that had been imposed on them, when they were sanctioned and docked nine points last season, for an infringement of 'Financial Fair Play' regulations.
The club owners: Trillion Trophies Asia, say that they have denied the allegations and are awaiting the outcome of ongoing disciplinary proceedings, which they will no doubt subsequently appeal against when/if a satisfactory conclusion in their favour is/isn't reached. There is also talk of them employing a lawyer to investigate unfair, biased and unwarranted actions against them by the EFL.
But, as facts begin to emerge, almost by the hour, every hour, it would appear that the Hong Kong-based sports holding company, may well have, yet again, opted to do things their own way, off their own backs and acted as if they always know best and should be above (and immune from) any kind of interference, or need to comply with the same set of rules and governance, that every single other club that comes under the auspices of the EFL does.
However, let's not forget, it is a fact that the EFL does pounce more readily on some clubs than it does others, take Birmingham City, Bolton Wanderers, Leeds United and today's host club: Luton Town, all of who have a back catalogue of unsavoury run-ins with the powers that be over a number of years, as prime examples of that... while several rival clubs seem to be having a blind eye turned away from similar breaches made on their part.
Indeed, the EFL themselves are complicit in creating many of the conflicts that several parties have found themselves embroiled in, by allowing unsuitable club owners to frequently slip through their own procedures to check out whether they are 'fit and proper persons' to be trusted with the considerable responsibility of running a football club. But they never take their own failings to that end into consideration, when punishing clubs who are suffering, by imposing stiff fines on those who are already bogged down in financial quicksand, or by deducting points from teams who are already struggling on, against all the odds, to maintain their current status and standing within the game.
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But surely, if 'TTA' knew that they're already on the EFL's radar and under their ever scrutinising and watchful eye, they should make damn sure that they're keeping everything above board, in-order, ship-shape and squeaky-clean while avoiding bringing any further attention to themselves, by riding roughshod over the sanctions that have been imposed on them.
'TTA' to all intents and purposes, have allegedly broken more rules since their nine-point deduction effectively killed off last season, and some of their most recent transgressions were brought to their attention by the EFL as long as seven months ago, but have not been acted upon.
And if the allegations are upheld, then everybody will be entitled to ask: just who the bloody hell do they think they are!?
And, more to the point, what exactly was their real motivation, for getting involved with a football club in England in the first place?
Though, you could also ask, in defence of 'TTA' why the EFL was insisting that Blues accepted an eight million pounds bid for Che Adams, in the January 2019 transfer window, when by holding out for a few months, they managed to sell him for almost twice that amount at the end of the season instead, especially when the powers that be are demanding that the club offsets it's incoming and outgoing cash-flow.
It's a massive contradiction on the part of the football authorities to demand that the club should balance their books, but deny them an opportunity to recoup the best part of another eight million pounds by delaying an outgoing player's transfer for what amounts to sixteen weeks. Surely that is merely exercising common sense, financial nous and good house-husbandry on TTA's part.
It's understandable that the EFL only wants clubs that are financially viable, going concerns, taking part in their competitions. And, in the main, it is a good thing that they police these things so diligently, to protect the interests of those member clubs that are being run along legit, sensible and sustainable lines.
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| 'Betrayed by the FA 2008' banner hangs in Luton's main stand |
But what kind of a governing body heaps even more problems on those who are already in the mire? Granted, the EFL isn't there to bail clubs out or rescue them from situations of their own, or some unscrupulous owner's making, but at times, they seem to be gleefully queuing up to kick those who are already down... while heaping even more burden on them.
I have often said, that if Birmingham City FC was a TV soap opera, people would switch channels in their droves because the plot would be deemed unwatchable, due to it being too far fetched... while too many of the main participants don't even slightly resemble barely credible characters. Though that could also apply to a whole host of other clubs and individuals across the length and breadth of the nether-land that is planet football.
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| Hmm... I bet he didn't see much of this afternoon's game. |
Maybe if the day to day running of the club was a sitcom instead, they could just about get away with the never-ending story of inept bungling and bizarre ownership issues.
But, that format is already catered for... and somebody has previously beaten 'TTA' to the aptest title for their own farcical shenanigan anyway: that programme is called Shameless!
And I'm quite sure that the suits at the EFL could be found suitable roles to play in such a black comedy farce too.
Amongst all of the lengthy text, horror stories and previously hidden truths that have emerged this week... besides discovering the
real figure pertaining to quite how much debt the club is actually in (over £91 million) and how much more they need to survive, just until the end of 2020 (another £54 million-plus), it has transpired that St. Andrew's itself was sold off under everyone's noses, and Birmingham City are actually now renting the stadium.
You what!? You what!? You what!? When did that happen? And why wasn't that information available in the public domain until some deeply concerned and knowledgeable whistle-blowing fans lobbyists put it out there this week?
Apparently, the money made from the sale of the ground possibly (but not probably) means that Blues (maybe) fall just within the parameters of the EFL's profit and sustainability limits for the year, so what the hell is really going on?
And what slight of hand trick is going to be used to fudge the balance sheet next year, now that the club's biggest asset has been pawned off? Any demystification regarding this complex matter, would be gratefully received by both myself and several thousand other perplexed and very keenly interested parties.
The FA Cup win against
Blackburn Rovers last weekend appears to have steadied the waters for the under-fire Blues manager Pep Clotet, who has been subject to a lot of speculation pertaining to his future employment prospects of late, from people who are supposedly 'in the know'.
But the conundrum is: if Blues did offload Clotet, who would want to inherit his poisoned chalice of a position anyway? Or accept and tolerate the meddling hands and boardroom interference in team matters, that currently represent the status quo and St. Andrew's (allegedly).
But the reality of that third-round win, coupled with this afternoon's victory is, many see these back to back favourable results, as merely camouflage, providing a few temporary repairs and papering over some bloody great big cracks, while providing a smoke-screen, to distract people from several other much bigger issues that are currently at stake, away from the field of play.
It's no wonder that Xuandong Ren relocated to an office overlooking the club's Wast Hills training ground, there seems to be so much detritus swept under the boardroom carpet, that the air in there must be quite acrid and unpleasant by now.
Inevitably, even the draw for the next round of the FA Cup has thrown up another anomaly, whereby Birmingham have been drawn away from home, against the winners of Tuesday night's third-round replay, between Coventry City and Bristol Rovers.
But, the Sky Blues are currently playing their home games at St. Andrew's, which means that Blues will be the away team in their 'own ground' (so to speak), where 'Cov' are sharing as tenants... if Mark Robins side do actually beat the Pirates, in Birmingham, on Tuesday night.
This, of course, raises another question. Whereby Coventry's tenure at the ground was always seen as something of a financial safeguard for Birmingham City, providing a cash cow and a much needed steady income stream for Blues, while safeguarding the future, for the length of their stay in the 'Second City', of the guest club too. But it now needs to be asked: who is it that the Sky Blues are directly paying their rent to? And, are Birmingham City getting anything out of the deal at all, themselves? And besides, if Blues are actually only tenants, would the Stadium's actual owners (Birmingham Sports Holdings Ltd) allow them to sub-let the facilities out to another club?
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So hey! As far as my opening gambit goes, regarding not getting enmeshed in anyone else's mess and just treating this beautiful but accursed game as a mere hobby and pastime... while avoiding becoming emotionally involved in matters that I can (in all likelihood), do absolutely nothing about, nor influence the outcome of in the slightest... I've failed, majorly.
Harking back to the subject of the FA Cup fourth round, before finally moving onto mentioning today's game at Kenilworth Road (I haven't completely forgotten about it, you see)... it is going to be one massive headache for the ticket office, West Midlands Police and both clubs to sort out if the potential Coventry v Birmingham showdown does become a reality.
Especially if Blues supporters are (as has been rumoured to be a distinct possibility by several sources, mainly of a dubious origin it must be said) restricted to the usual maximum allocation of away seats for cup games and their own fans are denied tickets to attend a game on that is being played on home-turf.
You can only hope that common sense will prevail and some kind of mutually agreeable compromise can be reached if such a situation occurs. But I'm not holding my breath and alas, absolutely nothing pertaining to the bizarre scenario surrounding Birmingham City surprises me anymore.
In all seriousness, would it actually be such a bad thing if Bristol Rovers went and won on Tuesday night?
Selling the ownership rights of football stadiums, then leasing or buying them back at a deflated figure, is a far more common practice than people realise in this day and age, but the most worrying aspect of this particular plan, is the hush-hush nature in which it was hatched. And of course, now that Blues have resorted to utilising this increasingly popular loophole, the EFL, who have hitherto shown a laissez-faire ambivalence towards such activity, have now decided to give this kind of activity, a serious case of looking at.
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Should supporters have access to all of the cogs, nuts, bolts, mechanism's and internal workings of their football team of choice? Possibly not, but somebody has to monitor some of the slight of hand tricks that questionable owners get up to, to keep them in check and prevent clubs being towards oblivion. The EFL have the responsibility for policing all of the above, but they are the ones who allowed most of the corporations that operate under the auspices of 'fit and proper persons', to run amok within the game in the first place.
'TTA' have been accused by many learned parties of sheer incompetence. But is that really the case? Or might there even have been a far more sinister ulterior motive for TTA's involvement at a football club that stands on a spacious area of real estate, near to Birmingham city centre, all along.
Effectively today's bottom club versus eighteenth placed club Championship fixture had been reduced to something of a sideshow for many people, in light of some of the events detailed rather sketchily and haphazardly above, raising their ugly heads this past week or so... and believe me, as laborious as this post is, I've only actually scratched away at the tip of one of several humongous sized icebergs, to this end. And to all intents and purposes, this is a vastly edited final draft and truncated version of my original post, which read like several very lengthy doom-laden chapters of a very weighty tome.
Luton then, what is one to make of this thriving corner of Bedfordshire?
Well, when I asked a local why a town of this size had it's own airport, I was told: "Because, people who come to Luton, only ever want to make a flying visit... and it's a bloody good means of getting away from here quickly"... Nobody said that really, of course, I'm just trying to lighten things up a bit, because I'm fairly sure that you've found the above narration extremely depressing and very boring thus far.
But one piece of advice that did stand me in good stead for staying undetected and incognito among the home fans, is that when referring to the Luton itself, it is a local dialect stipulation that you don't pronounce the letter T in the middle of the word. The "Come on Lu-on!" chants confirmed that this was indeed, 100% correct.
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The last time that these two sides met, back in October,
Blues won 2-1 at St. Andrew's, having taken a first half lead through Lukas Jutkiewicz, Luton then pegged the score back to 1-1, after the interval, before Birmingham took the lead for a second time to claim all three points. Which is precisely what happened again today, as Clotet's side recorded back to back wins on consecutive Saturday's, which also had in common the fact that they finished the game with ten men again, with Harlee Dean taking the 'walk of shame' this weekend, for picking up a second yellow card, following Ivan Sunjic's straight red last week, after only having been on the pitch from the subs bench for just under three minutes.
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It was Dean who had started the ball rolling for the opening goal today, in the fourth minute, when his long cross-field pass picked out Kristian Pedersen, who broke forward from inside his own half, before rolling the ball to Kerim Mbrati, who in turn knocked it wide to Jeremie Bela, whose left wing delivery was met at the back stick by Jutkiewicz and Blues were ahead as Simon Sluga struggled to keep out the big number ten's downward header.
Luton took a while to get into their stride, mostly because Birmingham were effectively knocking them out of it on a regular basis, with some man-sized and robust challenges, as tippy-tappy, pass the ball to death aesthetics were given the big boot, in favour of grinding out a win, by any means necessary, to get some vital points on the board, against another side who are faffing about at the wrong end of the table.
Lee Camp gave the impression, that he rather likes the idea of being the first choice goalkeeper for Blues again and put in a solid display.
David Davis and Gary Gardner added some bite to the battle for the middle ground, that they were winning hands down, Pedersen stuck to his task like a workaholic robot, that had been programmed to cover a couple of hundred miles over the course of ninety minutes, redefining the words tempo and application. Jake Clarke-Salter looks more composed at the back with every passing game, while Maxime Colin and Dean, the beleaguered Blues captain, work in tandem to thwart any attacking intentions that Luton might have had.
Jacques Maghoma slotted in well, filling in a holding role in front of defence, from where he also got forward to good effect, while Jeremie Bela and Karim Mrabti, were full of running, taking on and unsettling the Hatters defence. While Jutkiewicz was his usual, big awkward bastard battling self, as Donervon Daniels and Sonny Bradley could no doubt testify to at the end of this bruising encounter.
The hosts picked up the pace halfway through the first half, but when Luke Berry put a dangerous cross into the heart of Blues area, Harlee Dean put his foot through the ball and launched it away to safety.
Kazenga LuaLua looked to be the player most likely to create an opening for the Hatters, but he was 'dealt with' as Blues adopted a 'when the going gets tough' mindset. A Luton fan growled at me: "They're taking turns to sort out LuaLua... and it's brutal!" So what are they supposed to do then? Stand off of the Congolese play-maker and allow him the time and space to be creative?
Granted, the hosts number twenty five, did get roughed up a bit at times, but it was all firm but (borderline) fair, character building stuff... and besides: all is fair in love, war and football, especially when you really need the three points because you're trying to avoid getting dragged into another relegation matter. Get that guy some man-up tablets and tell him to run it off, it's only pain.
Joking aside, five minutes before half-time Dean flattened Lualua with a heavy lunge in the middle of the pitch. It was a (very) naughty one... and as the home crowd bayed for Dean to be sent off, he was shown a yellow card. Which, if truth be told, is the very least he deserved in this instance.
James Bree (on loan at Luton from Aston Villa) was also booked in the first half (and was substituted before the second half started), and Mrabti was cautioned too.
Towards the end of the first-half Simon Sluga did well to get down behind Jutkiewicz's strike from the edge of the area.
Right at the start of the second half, a section of Blues fans in the restricted view seats (a description that could easily describe at least 70% of the vantage points in this time capsule of a ground) cheered what they thought was a goal by Bela, but his free-kick had brushed against the outside of the post and bulged the side-netting.
At the other end, Harry Cornick released Lualua on the edge of Lee Camp's area, but he 'spooned' his rushed shot well over the bar.
Lualua began to advance towards visitors goal again, but this time it was (G) Gardner's turn to scythe him down and get pick up a booking for his troubles.
The resulting free-kick from Berry was aimed towards Matty Pearson, who went to ground courtesy of a shove in the back from Dean.
James Collins, one of Luton's better players today all told, stroked the resulting penalty into the right of the goal, while Lee Camp guessed wrongly and went the other way, to level the scores in the sixty-second minute.
But Blues rolled up their sleeves, dug in and forced the issue with another goal seven minutes later, when (G) Gardner stole the ball while Dan Potts hesitated and raced forward, pushing the ball out wide to Maghoma then continued his run to meet the return ball, that he smashed past Sluga from an angle, in front of the jubilant Blues fans.
Moments later, Jutkiewicz made a last ditch clearance as Pearson got up to meet Berry's corner and headed down towards the bottom left hand corner of Blues goal.
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With just four minutes to go, Dean, who had just denied Cornick a shooting opportunity, was dismissed for a challenge on Collins. Even though, this time at least, it had looked like a fair tackle.
But the referee Graham Scott, although harsh in his judgement in this instance, had let plenty of rough-house stuff go prior to the incident, so although Blues have a very good case if they should choose to appeal against the sending off, they might just have (AKA definitely had) got away with several overly physical spats earlier in the game, so you'll have to pass judgement on that one yourself, while I get splinters in my bum from sitting on the fence.
Sonny Bradley had a chance to grab a draw for the Hatters in stoppage time, but Camp came to the rescue... and Blues held on for a hard-fought win.
FT: Luton Town 1 v Birmingham City 2The Hatters, who remain in bottom place, four points away from safety, while Birmingham put a bit a breathing space between themselves and the drop zone, to end a week of mind-boggling craziness at the club on a high note.
Next Saturday, Blues entertain twelfth-placed Cardiff City at St. Andrew's, while Luton travel to Nottingham Forest for a noon kick-off on the Sunday.
'Twas a typtical away performance that won the day for Clotet's side, allowing Luton to have lots of possession in areas where they were no threat, but slamming the door shut whenever they tried to be creative. Y'know... just like how Blues used to play under their last manager, old whatshisname.
I've never contemplated writing such a long blog post before, not ever... and one thing's for sure, I never bloody well will do again either.
But there was a lot of background stuff that needed covering this week.
Hopefully, the next seven days will be slightly less hectic.
